Friedman IRX - any opinions?

willo

Didn't quite know where to put this as its somewhere between valve pre-amp, modelling power-amp, and in a pedal.

I've seen a lot of hype elsewhere, but very little here on the forum (I did see one thread of about two pages, with only a couple of people buying one, and one sending it back).

I am interested in this. Has anyone here had/know anyone with a decent amount of real-world experience? Some of the YT vids sound great, but some sound a bit thin.

Zapple

Got one. Brilliant piece of kit. 

Not quite got it dialed in under headphones yet but still finding myself playing way more than with any modeller I’ve ever owned as a direct solution. Less tweaking, more playing.

But the main revelation for me has been using it as a 2nd & 3rd channel (well plus the boosts - 4/5ch) extension to a clean amp using it in a loop of a switcher.

willo

Zapple said:

Got one. Brilliant piece of kit. 

Not quite got it dialed in under headphones yet but still finding myself playing way more than with any modeller I’ve ever owned as a direct solution. Less tweaking, more playing.

But the main revelation for me has been using it as a 2nd & 3rd channel (well plus the boosts - 4/5ch) extension to a clean amp using it in a loop of a switcher.

Fantastic. Have you used it live or through speakers/FRFR also at all?

From my perspective I've got a Helix and I like it a lot, but I would like the flexibility of a small unit that can either be paired with other pedals that I already have, or dropped in a gig bag for a quick jam.

My other gripe with the Helix is how it responds to increasing volume, with more of the extreme frequencies coming through. I have to dial them out a lot with EQ, but I enjoyed the simplicity of touring with valves back in the day. 

Now I'm playing recreationally, I'd be using it for home practice, band rehearsals through monitors, and live via FOH. 

How do you think it'd hold up to that?

Zapple

@willo - I've not run it into an FRFR yet but hoping to in the next few weeks. I have had it running into the return of my Two Rock (6L6 powered) and it sounds great. 

It behaves and more importantly feels like an amp, if you like to ride the volume control on your guitar then you can clean it up by rolling back. But you can also get a great Plexi-ish clean out of Ch1.

I've got a Helix (albeit a poorly one) but in my opinion the sound and feel is night and day different (others might disagree). Bear in mind it won't be as flexible as a Helix but the core tone is excellent. (I'm a fan of the Friedman sound). 

There's a Facebook group called 'Friedman IR-X User Group' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1095895024897909 that has quite a few videos on it. 

Also @JohnCordy has done a brilliant video on it here - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdR9_1fungk&t=800s

And this chap has done a few useful videos too - https://www.youtube.com/@peterglavanov/videos

willo

Zapple said:

@willo - I've not run it into an FRFR yet but hoping to in the next few weeks. I have had it running into the return of my Two Rock (6L6 powered) and it sounds great. 

It behaves and more importantly feels like an amp, if you like to ride the volume control on your guitar then you can clean it up by rolling back. But you can also get a great Plexi-ish clean out of Ch1.

I've got a Helix (albeit a poorly one) but in my opinion the sound and feel is night and day different (others might disagree). Bear in mind it won't be as flexible as a Helix but the core tone is excellent. (I'm a fan of the Friedman sound). 

There's a Facebook group called 'Friedman IR-X User Group' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1095895024897909 that has quite a few videos on it. 

Also @JohnCordy has done a brilliant video on it here - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdR9_1fungk&t=800s

And this chap has done a few useful videos too - https://www.youtube.com/@peterglavanov/videos

Thank you!

Just a couple of quick questions, but does this function as an audio interface - i.e. if I connect headphones to the IRX and then connect the IRX to my laptop via USB and play a backing track on my laptop, will the backing track audio come back through the headphones - or do I need an audio interface?

Second one, but how quick in your experience is the power up, with the valves? I am sometimes literally just grabbing 5 minutes where I can so a quick start up is helpful.

Overall though I am very interested in this amp. Even with all that the Helix offers, for each band/project I only ever play on one amp so that I've got some consistency in my fundamental tone.

TheBigDipper

willo said:

<snip>
Thank you!

Just a couple of quick questions, but does this function as an audio interface - i.e. if I connect headphones to the IRX and then connect the IRX to my laptop via USB and play a backing track on my laptop, will the backing track audio come back through the headphones - or do I need an audio interface?

Second one, but how quick in your experience is the power up, with the valves? I am sometimes literally just grabbing 5 minutes where I can so a quick start up is helpful.

Overall though I am very interested in this amp. Even with all that the Helix offers, for each band/project I only ever play on one amp so that I've got some consistency in my fundamental tone.

As of yesterday, I've got an IR-X sitting in front of me.

The USB port is purely to connect a computer for updates and editing presets. It's not an audio interface.

The valves take a few seconds to power up, just like other valve amps. I think it sounded a bit better after a few minutes of playing, too, just like other valve amps. 

Is it the answer to world peace and perfect tone? Who knows, but it's reassuringly familiar for me.

Give it a try. You might find you forget you ever knew what a Snapshot is or what running out of DSP means! :-) 

Zapple

TheBigDipper said:

willo said:

<snip>
Thank you!

Just a couple of quick questions, but does this function as an audio interface - i.e. if I connect headphones to the IRX and then connect the IRX to my laptop via USB and play a backing track on my laptop, will the backing track audio come back through the headphones - or do I need an audio interface?

Second one, but how quick in your experience is the power up, with the valves? I am sometimes literally just grabbing 5 minutes where I can so a quick start up is helpful.

Overall though I am very interested in this amp. Even with all that the Helix offers, for each band/project I only ever play on one amp so that I've got some consistency in my fundamental tone.

As of yesterday, I've got an IR-X sitting in front of me.

The USB port is purely to connect a computer for updates and editing presets. It's not an audio interface.

The valves take a few seconds to power up, just like other valve amps. I think it sounded a bit better after a few minutes of playing, too, just like other valve amps. 

Is it the answer to world peace and perfect tone? Who knows, but it's reassuringly familiar for me.

Give it a try. You might find you forget you ever knew what a Snapshot is or what running out of DSP means! :-) 

@willo - this ^^^^

It's not an audio interface. You'll need one to run it into the computer. And it powers on instantly :-)

TheBigDipper

Quick impression drop. External pressures mean I'm not yet spending much time with it, yet, but I do think the clean sound I'm getting into the EV speaker IR is very nice. It's extremely familiar to use, which is a good thing for me.

JohnCordy

@willo I do think since you asked about it this doesn't seem to me to be a magic bullet in terms of solving some of the high frequency/fizz things that you'd get with a modeler. 

In my videos with it, using a strat, I'm setting the treble control for drive stuff nearly all the way off, and for the lead tone I found adding in an EQ for a bit of high cut (like I would for normal high gain tones) helps to get things where I'd be with them.

But, overall I've really enjoyed the unit and am glad I bought one. Haven't had a chance to gig it yet, but am hoping to with this set up:

willo

Thanks everyone, really interesting to hear your experiences. I watched your videos on Friday @JohnCordy and had a finger hovering over the 'buy now' button. Especially as they seem to be selling out like hot cakes. I was going to buy it and use the 14 days to AB it against my Helix.

But then on Saturday our wardrobe fell apart so I'll have to spend my money on that    Rock and roll.

Overall I think a pause in buying is good for me. It gives me a chance to get more feedback and see where I can get to, live, with the Helix. I've a final gig for this year at the end of this month; my HX is sounding great at rehearsals (Placater, obviously) so hopefully I've got it dialled in well for live.

There are four things I love about the Helix that I wouldn't get with the Friedman - flexible routing, bass compatibility, audio interface, and snapshots - so the 'tone/feel upgrade' of the Friedman would need to be enough to get over that.

Interesting as well that there's still digital fizziness in it. The digital elements of it are the power amp and cab emulation, as well as there apparently being an analogue/digital conversion in the FX loop. Assuming that the valve pre-amp can't make that fizziness, then I wonder if it would be solved going through a tube power amp/FX loop of a tube amp?

Anyway, still super interested but I'm going to wait and see for. a few more opinions over the coming weeks.

TheBigDipper

OK - having spent quite a bit more time with the IR-X over the weekend, I've decided to send it back. I've got some specific use cases in mind and it's not quite there for some of them. It's a great piece of kit and lots of people already love it - it's just not for me and my needs. I'm not the rock/metal player that I think this unit is really intended for.

As a preamp pedal into an amp return, it's pretty good. I really like the cleans I'm getting from channel one. But I don't enjoy the sounds from channel two. It's a bit too "full on" for my tastes. Setting the two channels up for tones I like and then trying to get balanced volume levels isn't working for me. I have to turn channel two down too much and it loses something (for me) when I do. It's nicely responsive to using the volume control on the guitar on both channels. 

I liked the extra volume controls for use when the boost is on. My Rivera amp could do with that feature. I also liked the boosts. I can see how someone could set up four tones just from this and maybe drop an overdrive or two from their pedalboard. 

Going direct, the digital side of the unit doesn't sound as good to me as the Simplifier Mk II I own. It's fizzy, just like the distorted tones on every modeller I've used is fizzy. I prefer the Simplifier when going direct. I'm finding I can hear artefacts in the output that aren't present in the Mk II. I had the same issue with the Two Notes CAB M+. I'm not the sort of person who is happy to then start using EQ to cut the fizziness from the signal. It's not the sort of workflow I want.

Oh well...  the search continues! :-) 

MARVlN

Edit: Ignore the below - it makes no sense in the context of this thread...

Worth saying that a class D power amp isn't digital - there's no AD/DA conversion going on. In the IRX there is an emulated power amp to add some distortion presumably, before the actual power amp.

Class D power amps are used everywhere in audio electronics (e.g. TV, speakers etc), and don't come with annoying high frequency content of their own...

TheBigDipper

MARVlN said:

Worth saying that a class D power amp isn't digital - there's no AD/DA conversion going on. In the IRX there is an emulated power amp to add some distortion presumably, before the actual power amp.

Class D power amps are used everywhere in audio electronics (e.g. TV, speakers etc), and don't come with annoying high frequency content of their own...

I'm slightly baffled by the relevance of this to the thread or my post, TBH. Does the IR-X have a class D amp inside it? For the headphone output, maybe? I'd have thought the preamp was 100% analogue and valve-based.

As a preamp into a separate power amp it's very good - even though channel two doesn't quite match my preferences. But once you start going direct or through headphones using the power amp sim and the IR, it's definitely digital, surely? And that's when I started hearing the fizziness that is definitely not there when feeding the preamp into the front or the effects return of a guitar amp.

kennedydream1980

TheBigDipper said:

MARVlN said:

Worth saying that a class D power amp isn't digital - there's no AD/DA conversion going on. In the IRX there is an emulated power amp to add some distortion presumably, before the actual power amp.

Class D power amps are used everywhere in audio electronics (e.g. TV, speakers etc), and don't come with annoying high frequency content of their own...

I'm slightly baffled by the relevance of this to the thread or my post, TBH. Does the IR-X have a class D amp inside it? For the headphone output, maybe? I'd have thought the preamp was 100% analogue and valve-based.

As a preamp into a separate power amp it's very good - even though channel two doesn't quite match my preferences. But once you start going direct or through headphones using the power amp sim and the IR, it's definitely digital, surely? And that's when I started hearing the fizziness that is definitely not there when feeding the preamp into the front or the effects return of a guitar amp.

It’s an analogue pre-amp into a digitally emulated power amp and IR loader. There is no physical power amp on board, so to run into a guitar cab you would need a separate power amp.

I had the same thoughts as you. It just didn’t sound quite right for me so I also returned it.

MARVlN

kennedydream1980 said:

TheBigDipper said:

MARVlN said:

Worth saying that a class D power amp isn't digital - there's no AD/DA conversion going on. In the IRX there is an emulated power amp to add some distortion presumably, before the actual power amp.

Class D power amps are used everywhere in audio electronics (e.g. TV, speakers etc), and don't come with annoying high frequency content of their own...

I'm slightly baffled by the relevance of this to the thread or my post, TBH. Does the IR-X have a class D amp inside it? For the headphone output, maybe? I'd have thought the preamp was 100% analogue and valve-based.

As a preamp into a separate power amp it's very good - even though channel two doesn't quite match my preferences. But once you start going direct or through headphones using the power amp sim and the IR, it's definitely digital, surely? And that's when I started hearing the fizziness that is definitely not there when feeding the preamp into the front or the effects return of a guitar amp.

It’s an analogue pre-amp into a digitally emulated power amp and IR loader. There is no physical power amp on board, so to run into a guitar cab you would need a separate power amp.

I had the same thoughts as you. It just didn’t sound quite right for me so I also returned it.

Sorry! Totally misunderstood - for some reason I was convinced the IRX had an actual power amp (which would be class D) but of course it doesn't, it's like a bass DI - a preamp and DI.

Zapple

The output on the IR-X has a power amp emulation only. Just to note, you currently cannot turn this off. You can turn of the speaker emulation though. 

I'm getting there with running it directly into my audio interface. Got lost in jam tracks for a couple of hours last night. Hardly doing any tweaking (which is something I've personally found happens with modellers). It also takes boost pedals really well on both channels 

If I'm running the IR-X as a pre-amp, it sits in a loop using the input and send (rather than the output) so I don't get any power amp emulation. In that scenario, I think it's 100% analog. And as said previously is awesome :-)

sorbz62

I use my IR-X in a GigRig G3 loop together with an Eventide H90 and other pedals and use it live direct to FOH. I replaced a GX100 (and Tonex, Amplifire and FM3 before that) as I was getting really pissed off with option paralysis. The IR-X is like a breath of fresh air and sounds just like my BE100 with a Plexi clean channel. I love it.

Nerine

sorbz62 said:

I use my IR-X in a GigRig G3 loop together with an Eventide H90 and other pedals and use it live direct to FOH. I replaced a GX100 (and Tonex, Amplifire and FM3 before that) as I was getting really pissed off with option paralysis. The IR-X is like a breath of fresh air and sounds just like my BE100 with a Plexi clean channel. I love it.

I honestly think this is the way I might go eventually, too. 

I love the FM9t I have, but I’ve started to realise that I live on a couple of sounds and the rest of it becomes a bit redundant.

Lately I’ve been trying it out in 4CM config and I think I prefer the sound of the amp hooked up to my analogue board.

guitarmanessex89

Just picked one up. It sounds and *feels* like an amp. Highest praise I could give it, really. It has that kerrang and pop that I would want from a Marshall style amp. I do some duo gigs and just don’t want to invest into something with menus (the nagging feeling I’m not getting the best out of it, crazy work schedule and limited patience with learning curve stuff). This integrated with my pedalboard will be ideal, I think. I have a BE50 Deluxe and several over tasty amps too, so it sits in good company. 

Kebabkid

I got to play one of these yesterday in the studio and it was going direct to the PA. 

Channel 2 was OK, chewy but it did have some fizz to it and wasn't my sort of thing. In contrast, I was very impressed with Channel 1 and managed to get a fantastic clean sound out of it that had just a hint of hair, some chime but didn't quite crunch with single coils and felt great for rhythm. I believe that Channel is based on a Plexi and I'd love a pedal that could achieve that type of sound? I had a Wampler Mini Plexi but even in the lower gain range, it wasn't doing what the IR-X is doing and that Channel 1 seems to be popular amongst with users. Friedman need to put that into a pedal.

This is the sort of clean/edge sound I'm talking about in this demo but this one happens to be a Tweed amp

Kebabkid

I had an email back from Friedman suggesting their Small Box pedal in low gain mode for getting close to that sound.